Hwy. 47 traffic counters part of rountine process

People traveling the streets of Gothenburg last week may have seen devices such as the one pictured with what looks like a black hose from it across a street.

The device is a portable traffic counters. A hose is attached and extended across the road to count axles, according to Rick Ernstmeyer, traffic analysis supervisor, Planning and Project Development Division of the Nebraska Department of Roads.

“After the raw data is collected (generally for either a 24-or 48-hour period) it is factored to represent and Annual Average Daily Traffic volume,” he said.

The DOR is required by the federal government to maintain a current traffic inventory on all classified highways and major streets and county roads.

These counts along Nebraska Highway 47 are being made as part of that routine continuing process.

“We generally get to each station once every several years,” Ernstmeyer said.

Several uses of the information we collect are to help plan highway needs and determine design standards.

Counts in urban areas are forwarded to the individual city.

In the case of Gothenburg, once the data is in the system (generally about two months after the count has been taken), we are happy to share the results with anyone who asks, Ernstmeyer said.

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